Run Lola Run (DVD)

I only came across Run Lola Run because my favourite episode of The Simpsons, Trilogy Of Errors, contained an homage to this film. You may have seen it; it's the one where they show one day from the perspective of each family member. Lisa is late for her school science fair, so she runs down the street to some techno background music. I subsequently learned that that scene is based on Lola Rennt (or Run Lola Run), a German film from 1998, starring Franka Potente. The film tells the story of red-haired Lola, who has just 20 minutes in which to find 100,000 Deutschmarks. Her boyfriend, Manni (played by Moritz Bleibtreu) needs the money by 12 o'clock or he will ...  Read the complete review

Foreign language films have always been a bit of a no go area for me. There are so many decent films in English, why would I bother watching something where I have to read subtitles? I have a feeling you're probably already nodding your head in agreement. Once in a while however, an exception comes along (to prove the rule? Possibly.) The most obvious recent example is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon - if you haven't seen that then please pay your local video shop a visit as soon as you have finished reading (and rating) this op. Less well known but also worthy of being regarded as an exception is the ingenious Run Lola Run. This German language ...  Read the complete review

note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room Run Lola Run is an insanely inventive German film that brought director Tom Tykwer to prominence (and allowed him to director later films Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, and also The International, although this is still his best film!), as well as bring Franke Potente to International fame, helping her get later roles in films such as The Bourne Identity. This film is such a breath of fresh air whether you're accustomed to world cinema or not - it features a woman named Lola (Potente) who learns that her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) has let 100,000 DM go missing when he was looking ...  Read the complete review

I have seen this film described as experimental or avant-garde but, although it is not your average Hollywood action or romance flick (though it incorporates a bit of both); it isn`t nine hours in the life of a skyscraper either. In fact, just the opposite. The film is 81 minutes long and has a pace that takes the breath away (considering that the main protagonist spends most of the time actually running, the expression is even more fitting). But let`s start at the beginning. Manni, a minor criminal and the boyfriend of the title Lola, delivers a bunch of stolen Mercedes to a buyer, receives a bag of gems in return, these get replaced with a carrier bag full ...  Read the complete review

Perhaps what surprised me most about Run Lola Run is just how captivating a movie it is. So it's a German film, with subtitles, but don't let that put you off. The visual style and energy that director Tom Tykwer brings to this picture cannot be underestimated, nor indeed can the lively performance from Franka Potente in the lead role. If ever there was an example of film experimentation, this is it, as Tykwer throws in just about every trick in the book. We've got a bit of animation, a mixture of differing film stocks (including video and 35mm), and a variety of camera and editing techniques, not to mention the structure of the film, which is ...  Read the complete review